Hong Kong - Joseph Zen Ze-kiun SDB, Cardinal of the Catholic Church from Hong Kong, aged 90, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China’s national security, the Standard Newspaper said quoting sources. Reports also claimed he was later released on bail from Chai Wan Police Station on Hong Kong island late on May 11.

The Cardinal was arrested alongwith singer-actress Denise Ho, lawyer Margaret Ng and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained by Hong Kong’s National Security Police, the U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, on Wednesday said the Holy See “learned with concern the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and is following the evolution of the situation with extreme attention.”

The arrests were apparently related to their roles as trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, closed in 2021 and provided legal aid to people who took part in 2019 pro-democracy protests that were quashed by security forces, the group said.

In 2020, a sweeping National Security Law came into force, criminalizing previously protected civil liberties under the headings of “sedition” and “foreign collusion.”

Before the law’s implementation, many Catholics, including Zen, warned that it could be used to silence the Church in Hong Kong.

“Today’s arrests signal beyond a doubt that Beijing intends to intensify its crackdown on basic rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” said the group’s chief executive, Benedict Rogers.

Arresting Zen for his peaceful activities “has to be a shocking new low for Hong Kong, illustrating the city’s free fall in human rights in the past two years,” Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s China senior researcher said in a statement.
-Reuters/CNA